EP 352 How Much To Tip At The Salon

Ever leave the salon wondering if you tipped the right amount, or the right people? We take the mystery out of salon tipping with a practical, judgment-free guide you can use at your next appointment. We break down why tips matter to stylists, how they impact long-term client relationships, and the simple math that keeps everything fair and stress-free.

Support the people who help you feel confident and seen, and make future appointments smoother with a shared understanding of expectations. If this helped, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s hair-obsessed, and leave a quick review to tell us your biggest tipping question.

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Transcript

Welcome And Topic Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:54

Today, we're answering a question that I get all the time, really, is how much should you tip at the hair salon? You know, it does come down to a couple of things. It m it sounds simple, right? But there's etiquette, there's appreciation, there's respect, and it's all wrapped up in this magical number of what you're supposed to tip. So let's get into that today. Welcome to All About Hair. I'm Denise. This is where we talk about hair, confidence, and why a good hair day can seriously change your whole mood. It's like hanging out and chatting about life, feeling good, and loving your hair. No pressure, no perfection. So grab your coffee, settle in, and let's talk about loving your hair and yourself a little more. Okay, so first things first, why does tipping even matter? Well, think about it. Most stylists these days, there are a couple of hair salons that don't follow suit to this, so but that's not the norm. But most stylists depend on their tips for their paycheck. They do usually get paid commission, but as part of their income, just like servers at a restaurant or other service providers, your stylists do depend on their tips. It's not just a tradition, it's actually it shows your appreciation. They do a lot of things for you, right? They keep your hair fresh, they keep your cut on point, and they make you feel good. So don't you think they deserve a tip? I think so. And also, tipping actually builds a respectful relationship. This is a long-term client stylist relationship, I'm talking about. I've been a stylist behind the chair, I've been an owner, I've seen stylists, I've listened to stylists, I've I've coached to them. I totally, totally get it. That if a stylist feels like they knocked it out of the park and they really, really helped you and went out of their way trying to make your hair vision come true, and they really worked hard at doing that, and then you didn't tip them. Oh my goodness. Sorry to say, they'll remember it, and the next time you come in, they might not want to go out of their way as much. So just keep that in mind. So, what is the general rule with tipping? Well, for the longest time, 20% is the general rule. 20% of your service price is the standard. This applies to haircutting, to coloring, to extensions, to hair treatments, everything. So, whatever your service total is, not not your re not your product you're buying, but your service total, that's what you should consider the 20%. Anything above 20% is for exceptional service that's on you. Anything below it, really, is almost an insult. I'm I'm sorry to say. Then you're saying, okay, I go into the salon, and what if more than one person works on me? Because we used to have that in our salon. We'd have an assistant, or maybe one person would cut your hair, and another stylist would color your hair, and then you have an assistant shampooing your hair. Oh my goodness, that gets so confusing. How do I tip? Tip each person individually. So if one person cuts your hair, what is the price of the haircut? Then you take 20% of that. Maybe one person colors your hair, and that's another tip percentage, 20% of the color service. And then for this the assistants, I usually just say$5 for them. If you know, if they did more than shampoo your hair, get your beverages for you, if they've like blow-dried your hair, maybe a little bit more, it just depends on their involvement with the service. Typically,$5 for the assistant. And again, assistants usually only get paid minimum wage. So they're depending on their tips as well. I know it does cost a lot. And you don't have to have a calculator out with this. You could probably ask the person checking you out at the front desk to help you with that. The POS systems that they use usually can figure it all out for you. Or if you say, hey, I want to leave 20% and split it, typically, at least the program we used to use, it would split it automatically for you. So there's that. What about tipping on discounted services? You should always tip on what the original price should have been, not on the discounted service. If the haircut was typically, I don't know, 50 bucks, but you got it for 20, you want to tip the 20% on the$50, not the$20. Usually, stylists, when we'd have our monthly meetings or one-on-ones and we set our goals for the year, their compensation expectations to move up in their career is based on full value of the service. So just keep that in mind. So, what about tipping with cards versus cash versus digital? Because you know, there's Venmo and Zell and all those programs. So cash is always queen. Stylists prefer cash, they have it in their pocket, they can go get lunch with cash, they could buy gas on their way home. Cash is always preferred. Plus, if you put their tip on the credit cards, usually that's acceptable. However, remember that the business, the salon, gets charged from the bank or from the credit card companies, usually around it depends on the rate they're getting, but uh like three to seven percent. That's why you see a lot of signs out there that says cash tips preferred, because the business takes a hit on that. And I know when I owned my salons, I just wrote that off really as an expense. But then after a while, because wow, you know, on a$2 million salon and you're doing a lot of credit card services, that's a big old expense to just be paying tips out of your revenue when that revenue doesn't even come into my bottom line as a salon owner. So then I started it, of course, would take tips on credit cards. However, the percentage that the credit card company charged us to use the credit card, I took that off of the tips. So at least I wasn't getting double charged. Does that make sense? So, say somebody got a$100 tip on their paycheck, I would take the let's just say 3% off the top of that$100 tip. And so in their paycheck, they'd get$97 instead of the$100 because of the convenience of getting tipped on a credit card, they were paying the credit card fees. Make sense? And this was all in our handbook, so everybody knew about it. And we all discussed it because at first when I started as a salon owner, I didn't realize what an expense that would be. But you think about it after a while, wow, credit card tips are acceptable. As a salon owner, the salon owner just needs to be fiscally responsible and have that either written in their handbook. If you're going to the salon and you don't carry cash, because I don't carry cash, just know that it will be acceptable. It should be acceptable. But then also at some salons, depends on how the salon is ran. A lot of salons have like QR codes up at their front desk per stylist. And it's QR codes that go to like a Venmo account or a Zell account per stylist. And so you can just scan that QR code and then you could just tip your stylist directly to their account. And that's cool. We never did that, but I've been seeing that a lot lately. Your best option for tipping really is just tip in whatever way you can. That's a heck of a lot better than not tipping because you don't have cash and they will appreciate it. Your stylist will appreciate it. So, what happens if you are unhappy with your service? Well, first speak up, okay? But speak kindly, don't get all bent out of shape. If your stylist is truly doing the best that they know how to do with the knowledge they they have, you can speak up. Maybe they can fix whatever it is that you're unhappy with during that appointment. And if not, maybe they can get somebody who can and just give the stylist a chance to at least adjust what you're not liking. Communication with your stylist goes a lot, lot further than just withholding a tip. You know what I'm talking about. Have you ever been to a restaurant and the service was terrible and you just didn't leave a tip or you left a penny? Don't do that to your stylist. The stylist was working hard. Unless they're not working hard. I probably guarantee that they're working hard. Most stylists just really, really want you to just love your hair. I guarantee you, there's stylists that go home and if they didn't knock it out of the park, they're losing sleep over that. I guarantee you. I still do when I do somebody's hair and I feel like I could have tweaked it a little bit differently. But don't don't just not tip. If you feel like you can't speak up, because you know, we get in there and I don't know what overtakes us, but we feel like we can't speak up. And if you leave and you tip and all that stuff, then maybe call and ask to talk to the owner or the manager and just kindly say, Hey, I just really wasn't happy. What can you do? Quick recap. Start at 20%. 20% is the norm for tipping in a salon. Oh, I know. What if the salon owner does your hair? A lot of people have asked me that through the years. Hey, you're the owner. Am I supposed to tip you? You could do whatever you want, okay? Some owners work behind the chair, and that is their income. It just depends on how their salon is ran. When I ran my salon, it was an employee-based salon, and uh for a long time I worked behind the chair, and I did depend on my tips because I didn't pay myself anything else, because I paid everything to go back into the salon because I was reinvesting in it for the first four years, actually. And but then after that, I stepped back away from the chair a little bit at a time. I think as an owner, I never expected a tip. It's always nice, but you do what you want to do. If it's the salon owner, you're really loving your hair, you can tip the salon owner and just tip everyone involved, really. If it was the assistant, again, tip five bucks. If it's somebody colored your hair, if somebody cut your hair, make sure that everybody gets their share of the tip. And always tip on the original price, even if you got a discount. And cash, credit cards, and digital, they are all okay. And just make sure you're communicating your concerns respectfully, kindly, but make sure you're communicating, because I guarantee you that if you are unhappy and a stylist would much rather try to make it better than for you to never just come back, okay? That's terrible. You know, then we wonder what the heck happened. Okay. So just remember this tipping is the simplest way to show your appreciation to your hairstylist. And it supports the people who make you feel confident and make you feel beautiful. Thanks for being here. I hope this answered any questions you may have had about tipping. I know it's one of those things that we sometimes we just question, right? Thanks for being here. And as always, remember, when you know better, you do better. Thanks for hanging out with me today. If you love this, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss what's next. And if you want a little extra good hair energy delivered to your door each month, go check out my good hair energy subscription box.